The grounding line is the point at which a glacier detaches from bedrock and becomes a floating ice tongue.
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definition
Describes a standard glaciological boundary between grounded and floating ice.
An ice plain forms when glacier ice stretches and thins across a flat bedrock bed, creating a broad, low-slope grounded area that becomes more susceptible to floating and rapid breakup if sufficiently thinned.
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process
Explains how thinning across flat bedrock can create conditions that favor flotation and calving.
Buoyancy-driven calving occurs when thinned glacier ice lifts off its bed and floats, causing abrupt breakup into icebergs as the glacier moves into deeper water.
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process
Mechanism by which flotation of an ice mass leads to sudden calving events.
Loss of floating ice or ice-shelf buttressing—for example, through removal of protective sea ice by storms or inhibited sea-ice formation due to warmer ocean temperatures—can expose glacier margins to wave action and lead to accelerated glacier retreat.
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causal
Describes how changes in sea ice, ocean temperature, and ice-shelf integrity influence glacier stability and retreat rates.